The drug war has meant one of the biggest failures in human history. Therefore, it is necessary to stop it as soon as possible. This manifesto was written 13 years ago, and it continues to apply nowadays.
As citizens of legal age, in full physical and mental faculties, perfectly responsible for our actions, we declare:
1. That the human being is sovereign, individually, to do with his body what he considers convenient, as long as he does not restrict the freedom of other individuals.
2. That every person has the right to voluntarily investigate the effect of the substances that nature provides, beyond legal considerations that are largely removed from scientific knowledge.
3. That the paternalism to which governments subject the body of their citizens constitutes a crime against their freedom and is based on economic interests and subordination. The experiment of prohibition, justified in the preservation of public health and in a desire to control substances, has meant the opposite effect to the one originally intended: reduction of public health (adulterations, infections, greater toxicity of legal drugs, increase in the number of users, etc.) and a lack of control difficult to repair due to the exorbitant amounts of black money put into circulation, with the consequent impact on real estate speculation, political corruption, mafias, etc.
4. That political representatives are guilty of causing pain when committing crimes against public health, making it impossible to research and consume plants and substances that may be beneficial for the development of the person and society. In that sense, responsibilities must be demanded for the majority fiasco that drug policies have entailed, as well as opening a public debate where feasible alternatives are put on the table, starting with the decriminalization of acquisition, tenure, manufacturing, employment and cultivation of all illegal drugs.
5. That the State has the obligation to provide truthful information and scientifically contrasted purity data on any substance that the individual wants to try, ensuring this information for the safety and welfare of each of its citizens.
6. That cultures, religions and rituals associated with different substances deserve the same respect as any other discipline, and should be allowed to develop freely. The heterodoxy of consumers tends to dilute social barriers through the worship of the inner god, establishing a respectful relationship with the environment, nature and the rest of individuals.
7. That education is the fundamental basis on which the building of any society is based, being necessary for the subject and the collective itself a flow of scientific and experiential information that allows the individual, just as he chooses a religion, to be able to adopt the culture that one or another substance provides.
8. That drug policies must take consumers into account in order to build an inclusive society, reduce risks and avoid the damages that may arise from the incorrect use of substances, starting with the immediate repeal of all international anti-drugs conventions: Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961), Convention on Psychotropic Substances (1971) and the UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs (Vienna, 1988).
9. That the world governments must interrupt their zealous work of rejecting all those substances and medicines that can produce pleasure, which is why, let's not forget, they are consumed with assiduity. Likewise, in pain management, scientific efficiency must prevail over considerations of a political and/or economic nature.
10. That the prohibition of entheogens and other drugs constitutes an economically ruinous, inefficient and unscientific practice that promotes and propagates venereal diseases, impedes biomedical research and corrupts society by obstructing the judicial system. The substances that cause drunkenness have been legally used, naturally, for thousands of years, without raising the major problem they currently pose. Consequently, we demand that the huge economic funds —paid with our taxes— currently used for repression be used for constructive purposes, for the sake of normalization and final regulation of drugs, which would swell the state coffers with their taxes, offering users guarantees and quality controls on the products consumed.
This «Psychonautic Manifesto» was first published in the Spanish magazine Enteogenia in May 2006.